Ethnic origin is how individuals perceive themselves and, unlike race, it can be changed. There are countries in which there are several different types of ethnic groups and in some cases this could lead to conflict within a country, but as research will show this is not the only cause and, in some cases the conflict was deliberately staged. In such cases, it is usually a developing country, which is “defined in terms of its gross national income (GNI) per capita per year. Countries with a GNI of US$11,905 or less are defined as developing (specified by the World Bank, 2012). (QUOTE) Developing countries that have established themselves as democracies tend to have weak institutions, where elections are more about connections and winning, rather than trying to establish and follow formal rules. Nigeria is both a developing country and a country with weak democracy. There are many causes for this, such as natural resource issues and the inability to maintain a strong formal government, but all of this can mainly be attributed to having a divided society where there is no feeling of nationality. Divergence in a country does not mean violence, on the contrary, in most cases places where many different ethnicities live tend to be peaceful, but Nigeria is exempt from this because it has, in a sense, been programmed so that all the different ethnicities and religions of the British are in conflict with each other. Nigeria became a slave trading zone for the British Empire around 1807, but they didn't officially make it a colony until the 20th century. The British created Nigeria for the sole purpose of generating revenue; it is an “artificial country…colonial borders encompassed more than 250 ethnic groups which were never rudimentary…… middle of paper……national agreements, population, social statistics, political system. » Nigeria The 1966 Coups, Civil War and Gowon Government - Flags, maps, economy, history, climate, natural resources, current issues, international agreements, population, social statistics, political system, March 27, 2005. Web. “Democracy and governance in Nigeria: reflection on 51 years of independence.” Democracy and governance in Nigeria: reflection on 51 years of independence, nd Web, April 9, 2014. Draper, Alan and Ansil Ramsey. : An introduction to comparative politics. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. Print. Jensen, N. “Resource Wealth and Political Regimes in Africa.” Arend. “Constitutional design for divided societies”. Journal of Democracy 15.2 (2004) : 96-109..